I Turn Karl Marx’s Daughters’ Questions For Him in 1865 into a Modern Internet 20 Questions Quiz

This morning, I saw that a friend of mine had shared some interesting information on his Facebook wall. The post was about a list of questions that Karl Marx’s daughters, Jenny and Laura,  gave him in 1865 and his answers to them. He would have been 47 at the time he took the quiz, so he would have had enough experience in life to produce sincere and well thought out responses. It is an interesting idea that if Marx were alive today, he may enjoy a Buzzfeed quiz as much as the rest of us. For the original source, please see this link:http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1865/04/01.htm

This is the original list of questions and Marx’s answers:

Your favourite virtue … Simplicity
Your favourite virtue in man … Strength
Your favourite virtue in woman … Weakness
Your chief characteristic … Singleness of purpose
Your idea of happiness … To fight
Your idea of misery … Submission
The vice you excuse most … Gullibility
The vice you detest most … Servility
Your aversion … Martin Tupper
Favourite occupation … Book-worming
Favourite poet … Shakespeare, Aeschylus, Goethe
Favourite prose-writer … Diderot
Favourite hero … Spartacus, Kepler
Favourite heroine … Gretchen [Heroine of Goethe's Faust]
Favourite flower … Daphne
Favourite colour … Red
Favourite name … Laura, Jenny
Favourite dish … Fish
Favourite maxim … Nihil humani a me alienum puto [Nothing human is alien to me]
Favourite motto … De omnibus dubitandum [Everything must be doubted].

Though I am presently ten years Marx’s junior at the time he took his daughters’ personal quiz, I decided to take it myself. I spent about an hour this morning contemplating and then answering the 20 questions. I did take the liberty of updating some of the older, less ‘Murican spelling of two words in my version. 

My own 2014 version:

Your favorite virtue … a habit of enjoying present company and the present moment
Your favorite virtue in man … the ability to revise one’s position if needed
Your favorite virtue in woman … not regarding one’s self as less than a man
Your chief characteristic … Autodidactic
Your idea of happiness … Laughing with family and/or good friends
Your idea of misery … When those who love wielding authority actually have it
The vice you excuse most … non-willful ignorance
The vice you detest most … willful ignorance
Your aversion … religious tyrants
Favorite occupation … Writing
Favorite poet … Since “Bluebird” is my favorite poem, I suppose that makes Bukowski my favorite poet. Because of that poem, I live to let the bluebird out.
Favorite prose-writer … Me (Whitman taught me to sing of myself)
Favorite hero … toss up between Frederick Douglass & Robert G. Ingersoll
Favorite heroine … Harriet Tubman
Favorite flower … Red rose
Favorite color … Don’t have one
Favorite name … Angela, the name of my true love and companion in life
Favorite dish … A really good spaghetti and salad with a nicely paired wine or brandy
Favorite maxim … “Love is wise. Hatred is foolish.” -Bertrand Russell
Favorite motto … “In this short and singular life, love with all you have, learn all you can, savor the present moment, and leave it all on the table.” -Me (why live by another man’s motto?)

For those who would like to take the quiz or share it, questions only, here is that version for you to copy and paste at your leisure. Enjoy!

The Laura and Jenny Marx 20 Questions Quiz:

Your favorite virtue … 
Your favorite virtue in man …
Your favorite virtue in woman …
Your chief characteristic …
Your idea of happiness …
Your idea of misery …
The vice you excuse most …
The vice you detest most …
Your aversion …
Favorite occupation …
Favorite poet …
Favorite prose-writer …
Favorite hero …
Favorite heroine …
Favorite flower …
Favorite color …
Favorite name …
Favorite dish …
Favorite maxim …
Favorite motto … 

-Copyright 2014, Luke Austin Daugherty -All Rights Reserved